2025’s Finest Telephones Have been Additionally Its Wackiest

This was a surprisingly enjoyable 12 months for smartphones. I wasn’t anticipating it to be; the class is commonly described as stale or “plateaued.” However as WIRED’s resident cellphone reviewer, I’ve examined practically all of this 12 months’s handsets—gadgets as low-cost as $130 all the best way to an eye-watering $2,000—and I don’t suppose there’s been a 12 months full of as many assorted types in fairly a while.

It began with the Nothing Cellphone (3a) sequence, which the UK firm launched at Cell World Congress early within the 12 months. Whereas I wasn’t a fan of the Professional mannequin’s top-heavy digicam module, the electrical blue Cellphone (3a) is a standout. It seems like no different smartphone in the marketplace, with a clear backplate, a pop of colour from a small purple sq., and the corporate’s signature Glyph lights, which blink if you obtain notifications. These LEDs will not be essentially the most helpful, however they’re enjoyable and wacky.

That whimsical design has been sorely missing for a number of years. Keep in mind 2020’s LG Wing? The five-camera Nokia 9 PureView from 2019? The bizarre Moto Mods of a decade in the past, which added issues like cameras and audio system to the Moto Z from Motorola? These telephones could not have topped the charts, however they tried one thing totally different.

Smartphones are a necessity in at present’s world, and like all commodities, which means good and playful designs are sometimes sacrificed for the sake of producing effectivity. When firms chase the underside line, we find yourself with plain, simple-looking telephones designed for the broadest potential viewers. This is the reason the latest shift to gadgets with somewhat extra character feels vital.

Nothing had one other win on its palms this 12 months with the CMF Cellphone 2 Professional, a sub-$300 cellphone that didn’t look or really feel something like its funds worth. Uniquely, you may unscrew the again of the cellphone and exchange the backplate with one which’s a special colour, or take off the Accent Level module and connect issues like a lanyard. Sustainability-focused Fairphone had an identical concept with The Fairphone (Gen. 6), besides this smartphone did all of that whereas additionally attaining a ten/10 repairability rating from iFixit.

The Nothing Cellphone (3a).

{Photograph}: Julian Chokkattu

The Motorola Razr 2025 sequence.

{Photograph}: Julian Chokkattu

Subsequent got here Motorola, which has seen a whole lot of success in recent times with its Razr folding flip telephones. With the 2025 Razr fashions, the corporate leaned closely into totally different supplies and textures. You would purchase a Razr with a again coated within the microfiber textile Alcantara, vegan leather-based, or polished black Gorilla Glass. There’s even a model with Forest Stewardship Council-certified wooden. It helps that Motorola stays one of many solely producers providing a folding flip cellphone beneath $700. (It even will get as little as $600 throughout sale occasions.)

You should still be hesitant to spend money on certainly one of these hinge-reliant handsets, given their spotty historical past with sturdiness, however they’re harder than ever. I’ve dropped a number of Razrs, the Pixel 10 Professional Fold, and even the Galaxy Z Flip7 this 12 months, and outdoors of minor scuffs on the body, none of them have cracked. Motorola launched a titanium-reinforced hinge plate this 12 months. Google guarantees 10-plus years of folding for its newest Fold and has lastly earned an IP68 ranking for its folding design. Samsung says its Galaxy Z Fold7 can stand up to 500,000 folds, which pencils out to greater than a decade of typical use.

We must always anticipate extra out of how the devices in our lives feel and look. As with watch, I discover that I genuinely take pleasure in utilizing gadgets that put somewhat extra care or effort into design and construct high quality. This 12 months, I used to be delighted by the sharp-looking Gentle Cellphone III—the anti-smartphone that doesn’t run conventional apps—whereas the Minimal Cellphone, which is constructed with the identical purpose of serving to scale back time spent watching a display screen, had a plasticky construct that felt off-putting. Even with all of this experimentation in type, you don’t need to spend tons of and tons of of {dollars} on a handsome cellphone. Motorola’s Moto G Stylus 5G has a placing design with a beautiful leather-like texture, and it’s continuously on sale for $300.

The Gentle Cellphone III.

{Photograph}: Julian Chokkattu

The Moto G Stylus 5G 2025.

{Photograph}: Julian Chokkattu

Skinny, as all the time, was additionally very a lot in. Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge and the iPhone Air will not be unique concepts, however I child you not, holding an ultrathin and light-weight cellphone is definitely fairly dang superior. Sadly—and unsurprisingly—Samsung’s design suffered from lackluster battery life, and whereas the iPhone Air delivered better-than-expected run instances, its single digicam system and excessive worth didn’t precisely scream good worth in an economically tumultuous 12 months. (These flaws possible clarify the rumors that recommend Samsung has canceled plans for a successor to its thinnest handset and that Apple has been weathering lackluster gross sales of the Air.)

However we’ve already seen the advantages of thinner telephones. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold7 is likely one of the finest folding telephones of the 12 months, largely because of the huge discount in measurement and weight over its predecessors. Apple can also be rumored to be engaged on a folding iPhone, and the learnings from the iPhone Air would go a great distance in making a tool that’s not cumbersome to carry.